emoticon
perpetually not 200
- Guildcard
- 42001701
- Guildcard 2
- 42035063
Hi Enuo,
Thank you for writing. Your concerns have been duly noted. Don't worry, you're not alone! There are many folks like you who wonder about the world that is the PSO lobby and how on earth such a simple-looking place can captivate so many players. Much like Ragol itself, where I'm sure you spend much of your time, the lobby, in fact, is a stage filled with intrigue, excitement, and, of course, drama. Occasionally the lobby too becomes a battlefield--one of words rather than swords, of music rather than bruises. Indeed, not long ago I took a rare sojourn away from the lobby to explore Ragol's forest, atop of which I witnessed a brave hunter in arms against a mighty dragon, nested in an ice-crested field. The snowy atmosphere...the ring (or "halo") that shaped the battlefield...I could not help but reach for my quill and recall the intense battle that had occurred in my own home, the lobby, where mighty forces vied for control over the jukebox--The Battle of Snow Halation, as some historians call it.
But I digress. As a proud professional lobbier (I do compete in the international leagues, in case you're wondering), I can attest to the complexities of lobbying. While some players do fall into a temporary coma, unaware of the rest of the world, a phenomenon scientists are calling "AFK syndrome", the lobby idling that both professionals and hobbyists partake in, as a form of expression and art, is far more subtle and nuanced than that. I hope that after reading this message, you too will start to gain a sense of appreciation for the art of the lobby.
To begin, of course, we have lobby chat, seemingly the most straightforward of lobby activities. As a neophyte to the lobby game, it's easy to get involved simply by chatting with other players. This low barrier of entry, however, is not indicative of a lack of depth to this aspect of lobbying; in fact, socializing with other players is an art within itself, and there are many questions one should ponder in this process. For instance, how does the other party perceive what I say? If I share a meme, will they be receptive? What plane of sarcasm are we on?
Lobby chat is further complicated by two unique PSO chat features: Word Select and Symbol Chat. Much like most forms of art, Word Select is almost completely useless functionally, but it opens up an entire world of artistic expression. The careful interjection of a topical Word Select into a conversation can act much like a garnish: enhancing the flavor of the conversation by either complementing or contrasting with it. For instance, the non sequitur Word Select is a classic icebreaker. I recommend the tried and true "Playeris lewd , " or the humble yet dignified "bonsai trees has little experience in ," as appetizers. Keep an eye out for other players sending out question-type Word Selects as well. These Word Selects unlock special answer-type Word Select options, unique to the question proposed, and the skillful use of such Word Selects in terms of timing and juxtaposition separates the good lobbiers from the great. Keep an eye out for Word Select artisan @anime--legends say his selections of words have caused mountains to quake in laughter and rivers to flood with tears.
Just as the airplane did for humankind on the Wright brothers' fateful first flight in 1903, Symbol Chat opens another dimension to lobby conversation. While the beauty of Word Select manifests in its concision and incisiveness, the visual and aural components of Symbol Chats are revolutionary. Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, and, indeed, if you spend some time in the lobby, you'll see such many Symbol Chats that are difficult to summarize in a few words, such as "bee" or "brb time to smoke weed". In fact, it has even been postulated that the writing system of the ancient Chinese was inspired by Symbol Chat. You may notice that every new character is given a starter pack of Symbol Chats to begin their study of this ancient art. While these are great as a stepping stone into the intricate world of Symbol Chats for the budding scholar, curating your own custom deck of Symbol Chats is one of the few crucial ways of customizing your character, expressing your personality, and advancing your personal growth. Start by capturing some of the Symbol Chats that others have generously offered to share. Then, try your hand at making your own! You may be surprised at what you can accomplish in the lobby with a lot of spare time. Users @Colette and @Melirei have each painstakingly carved out their own niche in the Symbol Chat space with their original creations. In fact, @Melirei has even transcended the Symbol Chats of mere mortals; you may spot a rare Symbol Chat from her with markings that go beyond the boundaries of what mankind thought impossible until now.
Of course, you may be thinking, Word Select and Symbol Chat are available in game rooms as well. How is any of this related to the lobby? Well, thank you for asking, and if you didn't think it, thank myself for asking it on your behalf. You see, a room holds four people at maximum, and those people are likely not keen on deep Word Select or Symbol Chat interactions, which is understandable, as they are focused on gearing up or mowing down monsters. The lobby on the other hand, is a cultural hub, a melting pot of players coming from far and wide, making it fertile ground for growing the tree of knowledge so that its roots hold us together and its fruits give us nourishment. Without the lobby to facilitate this kind of exchange, the community that we know today, the bonds that we share, and the culture that we partake in would not exist.
So far, we have covered various forms of expression in terms of words and images, but how about expressing ourselves with our bodies? While real-life motion capture in PSO may be out of our grasp, alt-emoting fills in this gap with aplomb. In fact, character emotes surpass what most of us are capable of in real life, such as the alt-2 backflip, which is inaccessible to those but the most nimble, or the alt-m knockout, which would send most of us to the hospital. Not only do these emotes provide us with a freedom of expression beyond physical reality, they also facilitate crucial nonverbal communication. Some studies have suggested that nonverbal communication composes two-thirds of all communication, which implies that emoting is perhaps as rich a mode of communication as chatting, or richer. Of course, the battlefield is no place for emoting (though the enemy-induced emote animation cancel, or EIEAC, is an emerging, experimental technique), so one can only truly take advantage of the alt-emoting in--you guessed it--the lobby.
Finally, we arrive at the topic of Photon Chairs and true lobby idling. I could write an entire dissertation on the Photon Chair meta and the art of lobby idling, but I'll restrain myself to just a paragraph or two. For someone who has not yet spent a lot of time pondering the role of the Photon Chair idler in the greater PSO-sphere, I think hands-on experience could teach you far more than I could in these few words.
However, I will note that the hidden world of the Photon Chair is not for the faint-hearted. The Photon Chair is easy to pick up--after all, it just takes two buttons to inflate--but mastering the Photon Chair is a lifetime's journey. Finding the perfect position to deploy the chair. Adjusting the both the chair angle and camera angle for optimal viewing. Selecting the right Section ID to coordinate with the other lobbiers. Repositioning as players enter and leave the lobby to maximize the lobby's holistic chair aesthetic. And this is just scratching the surface. I can't tell you how much trigonometry I've done to calculate the perfect distance and angle to achieve the ideal "feng shui", to borrow a common term, with respect to the other chairs and the day's forecast. Of course, since less experienced Photon Chair idlers don't take all the complex factors into account (and I certainly don't blame them!), our pursuit of the perfect Photon Chair arrangement can become quite difficult at times, but much like the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, such imperfection is not only to be expected, but celebrated as its own sort of beauty. For an example of the Photon Chair meta honed to its finest, look no further than user @NDW. As the myth goes, on a rare simultaneously sunny and rainy day when the lobby is eerily empty, you may catch a glimpse of a troop of RAcasts with his name, arranged in the lobby in perfect harmony.
The lobby is a wonderful place. Out of the over 1100 hours I have accrued in this game, the overwhelming majority of those hours have been spent in the lobby. I hope that you too can find aspects of the lobby to enjoy. For the adventurers out there, there are so many possibilities in the lobby still waiting to be explored! The area around the counter in Lobbies 1 and 2 where most people reside is well-understood, but the far corners of the lobby and other alternative lobbies have treasures just waiting to be found. And of course, partaking in lobby chat, Word Select ping-pong, Symbol Chat art, alt-emote expression, and Photon Chair aesthetics are worthwhile pursuits as well. Good luck out there, and hope to see you around in the lobby!
Sincerely,
Sophie
Thank you for writing. Your concerns have been duly noted. Don't worry, you're not alone! There are many folks like you who wonder about the world that is the PSO lobby and how on earth such a simple-looking place can captivate so many players. Much like Ragol itself, where I'm sure you spend much of your time, the lobby, in fact, is a stage filled with intrigue, excitement, and, of course, drama. Occasionally the lobby too becomes a battlefield--one of words rather than swords, of music rather than bruises. Indeed, not long ago I took a rare sojourn away from the lobby to explore Ragol's forest, atop of which I witnessed a brave hunter in arms against a mighty dragon, nested in an ice-crested field. The snowy atmosphere...the ring (or "halo") that shaped the battlefield...I could not help but reach for my quill and recall the intense battle that had occurred in my own home, the lobby, where mighty forces vied for control over the jukebox--The Battle of Snow Halation, as some historians call it.
But I digress. As a proud professional lobbier (I do compete in the international leagues, in case you're wondering), I can attest to the complexities of lobbying. While some players do fall into a temporary coma, unaware of the rest of the world, a phenomenon scientists are calling "AFK syndrome", the lobby idling that both professionals and hobbyists partake in, as a form of expression and art, is far more subtle and nuanced than that. I hope that after reading this message, you too will start to gain a sense of appreciation for the art of the lobby.
To begin, of course, we have lobby chat, seemingly the most straightforward of lobby activities. As a neophyte to the lobby game, it's easy to get involved simply by chatting with other players. This low barrier of entry, however, is not indicative of a lack of depth to this aspect of lobbying; in fact, socializing with other players is an art within itself, and there are many questions one should ponder in this process. For instance, how does the other party perceive what I say? If I share a meme, will they be receptive? What plane of sarcasm are we on?
Lobby chat is further complicated by two unique PSO chat features: Word Select and Symbol Chat. Much like most forms of art, Word Select is almost completely useless functionally, but it opens up an entire world of artistic expression. The careful interjection of a topical Word Select into a conversation can act much like a garnish: enhancing the flavor of the conversation by either complementing or contrasting with it. For instance, the non sequitur Word Select is a classic icebreaker. I recommend the tried and true "Playeris lewd , " or the humble yet dignified "bonsai trees has little experience in ," as appetizers. Keep an eye out for other players sending out question-type Word Selects as well. These Word Selects unlock special answer-type Word Select options, unique to the question proposed, and the skillful use of such Word Selects in terms of timing and juxtaposition separates the good lobbiers from the great. Keep an eye out for Word Select artisan @anime--legends say his selections of words have caused mountains to quake in laughter and rivers to flood with tears.
Just as the airplane did for humankind on the Wright brothers' fateful first flight in 1903, Symbol Chat opens another dimension to lobby conversation. While the beauty of Word Select manifests in its concision and incisiveness, the visual and aural components of Symbol Chats are revolutionary. Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, and, indeed, if you spend some time in the lobby, you'll see such many Symbol Chats that are difficult to summarize in a few words, such as "bee" or "brb time to smoke weed". In fact, it has even been postulated that the writing system of the ancient Chinese was inspired by Symbol Chat. You may notice that every new character is given a starter pack of Symbol Chats to begin their study of this ancient art. While these are great as a stepping stone into the intricate world of Symbol Chats for the budding scholar, curating your own custom deck of Symbol Chats is one of the few crucial ways of customizing your character, expressing your personality, and advancing your personal growth. Start by capturing some of the Symbol Chats that others have generously offered to share. Then, try your hand at making your own! You may be surprised at what you can accomplish in the lobby with a lot of spare time. Users @Colette and @Melirei have each painstakingly carved out their own niche in the Symbol Chat space with their original creations. In fact, @Melirei has even transcended the Symbol Chats of mere mortals; you may spot a rare Symbol Chat from her with markings that go beyond the boundaries of what mankind thought impossible until now.
Of course, you may be thinking, Word Select and Symbol Chat are available in game rooms as well. How is any of this related to the lobby? Well, thank you for asking, and if you didn't think it, thank myself for asking it on your behalf. You see, a room holds four people at maximum, and those people are likely not keen on deep Word Select or Symbol Chat interactions, which is understandable, as they are focused on gearing up or mowing down monsters. The lobby on the other hand, is a cultural hub, a melting pot of players coming from far and wide, making it fertile ground for growing the tree of knowledge so that its roots hold us together and its fruits give us nourishment. Without the lobby to facilitate this kind of exchange, the community that we know today, the bonds that we share, and the culture that we partake in would not exist.
So far, we have covered various forms of expression in terms of words and images, but how about expressing ourselves with our bodies? While real-life motion capture in PSO may be out of our grasp, alt-emoting fills in this gap with aplomb. In fact, character emotes surpass what most of us are capable of in real life, such as the alt-2 backflip, which is inaccessible to those but the most nimble, or the alt-m knockout, which would send most of us to the hospital. Not only do these emotes provide us with a freedom of expression beyond physical reality, they also facilitate crucial nonverbal communication. Some studies have suggested that nonverbal communication composes two-thirds of all communication, which implies that emoting is perhaps as rich a mode of communication as chatting, or richer. Of course, the battlefield is no place for emoting (though the enemy-induced emote animation cancel, or EIEAC, is an emerging, experimental technique), so one can only truly take advantage of the alt-emoting in--you guessed it--the lobby.
Finally, we arrive at the topic of Photon Chairs and true lobby idling. I could write an entire dissertation on the Photon Chair meta and the art of lobby idling, but I'll restrain myself to just a paragraph or two. For someone who has not yet spent a lot of time pondering the role of the Photon Chair idler in the greater PSO-sphere, I think hands-on experience could teach you far more than I could in these few words.
However, I will note that the hidden world of the Photon Chair is not for the faint-hearted. The Photon Chair is easy to pick up--after all, it just takes two buttons to inflate--but mastering the Photon Chair is a lifetime's journey. Finding the perfect position to deploy the chair. Adjusting the both the chair angle and camera angle for optimal viewing. Selecting the right Section ID to coordinate with the other lobbiers. Repositioning as players enter and leave the lobby to maximize the lobby's holistic chair aesthetic. And this is just scratching the surface. I can't tell you how much trigonometry I've done to calculate the perfect distance and angle to achieve the ideal "feng shui", to borrow a common term, with respect to the other chairs and the day's forecast. Of course, since less experienced Photon Chair idlers don't take all the complex factors into account (and I certainly don't blame them!), our pursuit of the perfect Photon Chair arrangement can become quite difficult at times, but much like the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, such imperfection is not only to be expected, but celebrated as its own sort of beauty. For an example of the Photon Chair meta honed to its finest, look no further than user @NDW. As the myth goes, on a rare simultaneously sunny and rainy day when the lobby is eerily empty, you may catch a glimpse of a troop of RAcasts with his name, arranged in the lobby in perfect harmony.
The lobby is a wonderful place. Out of the over 1100 hours I have accrued in this game, the overwhelming majority of those hours have been spent in the lobby. I hope that you too can find aspects of the lobby to enjoy. For the adventurers out there, there are so many possibilities in the lobby still waiting to be explored! The area around the counter in Lobbies 1 and 2 where most people reside is well-understood, but the far corners of the lobby and other alternative lobbies have treasures just waiting to be found. And of course, partaking in lobby chat, Word Select ping-pong, Symbol Chat art, alt-emote expression, and Photon Chair aesthetics are worthwhile pursuits as well. Good luck out there, and hope to see you around in the lobby!
Sincerely,
Sophie
Last edited:
![[D]](/community/data/avatars/m/0/679.jpg?1455407436){kind=avatar}
